The Christian Majority and the Abortion Dilemma
Do you often find yourself trying to make sense of the things that dominate our headlines? I do. So often we hear one thing from a certain constituency, yet when we look a little closer, that same group’s behavior tells a different story.
As much as 75% of the American population identifies as Christian. Culture wars continue to tear up the country on issues of abortion, race, immigration, social services, and a nearly endless list of conflictive issues. Two of these issues continue to draw my attention and they both fall into the categories of “makes no sense,” “doesn’t add up,” and “you’ve got to be kidding me.” One of those is the handling of immigration, which we’ll save for another discussion. The other issue and the Evangelicals conveniently fluctuating posture is what we’ll talk about here, along with issues of consistency.
As a traditional conservative (I identify as a Conservative Independent), I find things just don’t add up when measured against traditional conservative, or even moderate ideals. These days, I prefer to identify with the moderate bucket as opposed to getting lumped in with the radicals that aren’t really conservatives but attention seekers. They would rather obstruct and bow down to a demagogue. Why would I desire to be counted as one of the “Evangelical Right,” or “Christian Right,” when the double standards exhibited in this large demographic are so repulsive? Even though I am a believer in Jesus Christ!
The divisiveness of the abortion issue isn’t new to anyone over twenty years old. Along with race, abortion has continually topped our society’s conflicted mind. Every political race, whether in a state or national election, has repercussions tied to abortion. Through the candidates, immigration, and race are also on the ballot in every voting booth at every election.
Evangelical Support for Trump: A Moral Contradiction?
With such a high percentage of American society identified as “Christian,” you would think the abortion issue would be settled as a result of such a dominant voting block.
The trouble with this assumption is that it’s 180 degrees from reality due to the fact that seven in ten women who have had an abortion identify as Christian according to Lifeway Research study. (You can read it here.)
“The 70% of women who’ve had abortions that self-identify as a Christian include Catholics (27%), Protestants (26%), non-denominational (15%), and Orthodox (2%). Among Protestants, more identify as Baptists (33%), Methodist (11%), Presbyterian (10%), or Lutheran (9%).
Far fewer women who’ve had abortion identify as agnostic (8%), atheist (4%), Jewish (3%), Muslim (2%), Hindu (1%), Buddhist (1%), Latter-Day Saint or Mormon (1%), or Jehovah’s Witness (1%). Another 3% say “other,” and 7% say they have no religious preference.”
I’m sorry, but I have a tough time reconciling the behaviors of the so-called Christian Right (of which I would be labeled), when they overwhelmingly support a candidate that brags about grabbing a woman by her private parts is a pathological liar, and has done more to harm the image of our republic globally as any leader in the last 150 years as he incited his followers to generate a violent protest at the Capitol.
It’s impossible to miss the double-standard here. Christian leadership in 2016 – Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Jerry Falwell Jr., Mike Huckabee, and other mainstream personalities fell all over themselves to move the Evangelicals towards Trump. All the while, 70% of women identifying as Christian, sitting in these pews, have quietly made trips to the abortion clinic.
So the leadership got someone who would put conservative judges in place, but seven out of ten of their female parishioners were walking a different walk. I would presume their Christian male partners are a part of this Right-Wing movement that is bent on supporting Trump, so we will see more conservative judges installed. More conservative judges. Better for Pro-Life advocates. Hmmm.
It’s interesting that none of the leadership or those in the pews would want their daughter to marry a man with Trump’s character, but they were, and still are, willing to keep him front and center. Just about any other strong Republican candidate could beat an 82-year-old Joe Biden, but this group that preaches character won’t let go of him. It seems this time around, a few of those same mega-church leaders have remained silent. I’d have to suggest that by now they’ve realized they messed up, and the endorsements are coming slower, leading up to the 2024 race.
So let’s get this really clear in our minds. Of the 70% of Christian women who’ve had abortions, a third of those are Baptists, 26% of them are Protestants, and most likely, a high percentage of them and their husbands are pro-Trump. This group believes that there is just not any other candidate that can get the job done as well as their lying, cheating, porn-star philandering, non-verified election fraud propagating, hero!
This is so reminiscent of a story that all of these folks know so well. The rise of another hero with all the same characteristics. The insecure, vengeful King Saul that looked good on paper, but delivered nothing but chaos as he risked his country’s reputation chasing the honorable future King David through the region.
Our founding fathers went out of their way to guard against a monarchical government, where one man could proceed unchecked to harm the republic. Trump’s behavior was more king-like than any president in the last two hundred years. He made promises he knew he couldn’t fulfill, and on issues such as a border wall, he got a mere 50 miles complete while having complete control of Congress.
To put this in context, we must realize citizens of all stripes overwhelmingly oppose a porous border. Trump campaigned on the promise of, “We will build that wall.” With a rare opportunity of having a majority in both chambers, he got a whopping fifty miles of wall built as he chased the next shiny object that came across his desk.
Media Influence and the Erosion of Independent Thinking
If I have one mission that stands above most other priorities, it’s to encourage anyone who will listen to broaden their inputs and consider other sources than (those that favor their tribal affiliation) their favorite cable network that profits from a one-sided rhetoric. So many of my friends work all day and come home and devote the only two hours they have to relax to one cable network that pumps them full of poisoned rhetoric. No wonder Trump is their hero. They have nearly no other baseline or point of reference.
I respect so much the concept of one citizen, one vote, that I will always respect one’s right to cast that vote. On the other hand, I have little respect for any citizen that succumbs to the onslaught of propaganda they invite into their living rooms each night via cable news and the propagandist movement. This convenient dose of slanted coverage was barely present twenty-five years ago.
The routine of America’s lazy habit of relaxing in front of the tube with a one-sided onslaught of propaganda has shredded our country’s people of the ability to remain independent thinkers, free of one-sided polarizing rhetoric. The result has been devastatingly divisive.
I want to encourage every citizen to strive to be an independent thinker and create your own checklist to protect against the heroes that are formed by television and media. What are their motivations? Are they just on a mission to attack and slander any other political figure or network that doesn’t jibe with “their idea” of what is best for you and the rest of us? Of course, they are on a mission to protect their mission! If you earned $20 million a year to feed your sheep, would you change their diet? I doubt it. Especially when the sheep swallows it up each night without protest or question.
If we are not objective and vigilant, it’s nearly impossible not to be swayed toward the propagandists. The group that attacked the capital has become the 21st century poster child for swallowing the conspiracy theories of a few. They acted emotionally to bring unqualified complaints to a bad ending. Complaints without vetted solutions rarely find an effective path to resolution. Those who propagated the rhetoric on their websites and ultra-right media are still sitting in front of their microphones or at their keyboards typing away while others go to jail. There is a long list of apologetic participants that went in with eyes wide shut, now sitting in a jail cell.
“All of us like sheep have gone astray” – such universal words of description of the human condition. If you are a follower, watch who you choose to follow! Our nation is currently facing the result of so many followers taking another’s advice as if it were Gospel, with no personal set of checks and balances regarding inputs.
Seeking Integrity: The Path to a Better America
I started this piece out by referencing the double standard of my friends on the Christian Right. The evidence of sheep-like tendencies, of course, is everywhere as people really are like sheep, as the old prophet Isaiah put it. Would my friends on the right sell out their country for a few conservative judges and the right to carry an assault rifle?
Would a believer in Jesus find a way to justify a vote for the schoolyard bully who says it’s the right of celebrity to grab and abuse women (under oath by the way), have disdain for wounded veterans at White House events? Could you vote for one that makes promises – knowing they cannot be kept – (ala Immanuel Kant’s definition of a categorical imperative of a universal moral law governing our actions)?
Yet this is where many of our country’s spiritual leaders have led their flocks. Anything, at any cost, is better than Joe Biden. I can almost get caught up in that sentiment. But has this approach to a polarized result really worked? We enacted this strategy and have wound up with more hate, distrust, and division than ever. Our budget is not any more balanced than it was in 2015.
Our borders were more secure under Obama than either Trump or Biden. Many of you are just happy a conservative Supreme Court secured the Dodd decision. Little else matters to you. We could have a civil war as a result of Trump’s polarizing and otherwise ineffectiveness, but we have a conservative court and for many, that is enough. Let’s circle back to the initial point here of the double-standard we have of the 70% of “Christians” headed for abortion clinics. Is the result worth the culture wars we are left with?
We can, however, make progress if we agree to move on to a leader that leads with integrity. One bully leader will not change this country for the better. We don’t need a king. We need a leader that respects the Constitution, and the three branches of government. Don’t listen to Trump’s rhetoric leading up to the 2024 election that “America is dying – it is dead.” Hitler used the same scheme as he pledged to make Germany great again. Sounding the alarm bell for drastic change to hit the refresh button to take us back to where we were a generation ago always sells. But it is a faux promise to the gullible.
Come on America! We can do better than this!
